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Appalling double standards

Anti abortion activist has his visa cancelled by the Minister for Immigration:

Anti-abortion activist Troy Newman was due to leave Australia last night after a special sitting of the High Court dismissed his application for an interlocutory injunction to prevent his removal.

The court will not begin deliberating for at least a month on whether Immigration Minister Peter Dutton erred in last week revoking Mr Newman’s visa.

Mr Dutton cancelled Mr Newman’s visa as the US citizen was en route to Australia, on the basis that his presence in Australia might pose a risk to the health, safety or good order of the community.

He had earlier received a letter from Labor’s Terri Butler, warning that Mr Newman posed a risk to Australians as someone who has described abortionists as murderers, with reference to the fact that murderers were subjected to the death penalty in many US states.

At the same time an extremist Muslim group is holding a workshop in Melbourne:

An extremist Muslim group will hold workshops at Melbourne’s Deakin University this weekend based on the teachings of Islamic scholars who have recommended the death penalty for homosexuals and apostates, promoted terrorism and preached hatred of Jews and Christians and violence against women.

The Islamic Research and Educational Academy, which earlier this year held a conference at which children as young as five were encouraged to dress up as radical clerics and read controversial sermons and passages from the Koran, has sent text messages to supporters advertising the da’wah workshops as being based on the teachings of “legendary” scholars Zakir Naik and Ahmed Deedat.

Dubbed “The Art of Da’wah” and hosted by the ultraconservative Salafist organisation’s president Waseem Razvi, the workshops, to be held at Deakin’s Burwood campus, promise to use the teachings of Dr Naik and Sheik Deedat to help attendees “learn the art and gain the confidence to talk about Islam to anyone, anywhere and at any time”.

In Islamic theology, the purpose of da’wah is to invite Muslims and non-Muslims to understand the worship of Allah.

Indian “televangelist” Dr Naik has been banned from countries including Britain, Canada and parts of India for his rhetorical support for terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

He has recommended capital punishment for homosexuals and apostates and has been quoted saying “every Muslim should be a terrorist” and asserting men’s “rights” to beat their wives, as long as they do it lightly, so as not to leave a mark.

Sheik Deedat, who died in 2005, was a South African Muslim missionary of Indian descent whose books have been banned from sale in France since 1994 for being “violently anti-Western, anti-Semitic and inciting to racial hate.”

This is an appalling double standard. A man who has some controversial views about how abortionists should be treated - though he advocates nothing illegal - is denied a visa. And extreme Muslims who advocate capital punishment for homosexuals and apostates, and that it is right for men to beat their wives, are allowed to meet and hold workshops freely. This is an appalling double standard that does not reflect well on our society. The Minister for Immigration should take immediate steps to rectify this situation.